flood: A group from Russia is expected to be the first known tourists allowed into North Korea since border closures to combat the pandemic began in early 2020, according to a post by Russian regional authorities and a Western tour guide.
Yangdok Hot Spring Cultural Entertainment Center and Skating Range in South Pyongan Province, North Korea. credit: AP
North Korea has imposed some of the world's strictest border controls during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and has not yet fully opened to foreigners.
The trip, announced by a Vladivostok-based agency, was arranged when the governor of Russia's far-eastern Primorsky Krai region, which borders North Korea, visited Pyongyang for talks in December, the regional government said in a post on the Telegram app this week.
The four-day tour begins on February 9 and includes a stop in Pyongyang and a ski resort, according to the online itinerary.
Simon Cockerill, general manager of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which was not involved in the trip, told Reuters that his partners in North Korea had confirmed that the Russian visit was going ahead under special circumstances.
download
He added: “It is a good sign, but I hesitate to say that it will necessarily lead to wider openness due to the special circumstances of this trip.” “But given that there have been no tourists for more than four years, any tourist trip can be considered a positive step forward.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the Eastern Russia Summit in September, where they pledged to deepen cooperation on the economic, political and military fronts despite international sanctions.
Tourism is largely unaffected by UN Security Council resolutions restricting business with North Korea because of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
In the year before the pandemic began, North Korea saw a surge in Chinese tourists who may have provided the cash-strapped country with as much as US$175 million ($260 million) in additional revenue in 2019, according to an estimate by Seoul-based NK News. .
Reuters
